The Pink Whisk Brilliant Baking Step-by-Step Cake Making (15 page)
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Authors: Ruth Clemens
Moist Toffee Apple Cake
Come Autumn time and cooking apples are in abundance why not whip up this delicious Moist Toffee Apple cake?
Makes one 20 cm (8 in) cake
Prep: 30 minutes
Bake: 1 hour 10 minutes
Oven: 160°c (fan)/180°c/350°F/Gas Mark 4
Ingredients
Cake
200ml (7fl oz) sunflower oil
65g (2
1
⁄
2
oz) clear runny honey
2 eggs, large, separated
130g (4
1
⁄
2
oz) light muscovado sugar
95g (3
1
⁄
4
oz) plain (all-purpose) wholemeal (whole-wheat) flour
95g (3
1
⁄
4
oz) self-raising (-rising) flour
100g (3
1
⁄
2
oz) ground almonds
1
1
⁄
2
tsp cinnamon
1
⁄
2
tsp ground cloves
1
⁄
2
tsp baking powder
50g (1
3
⁄
4
oz) sultanas (golden raisins)
200g (7oz) grated Bramley apple (approx. 2 medium cooking apples, peeled, cored and grated)
Frosting
35g (1
1
⁄
4
oz) butter
110g (4oz) full fat cream cheese
300g (10
1
⁄
2
oz) icing (confectioners) sugar, sifted
Apple Decorations (optional)
25g (1oz) red sugarpaste (rolled fondant)
5g (
1
⁄
8
oz) green sugarpaste (rolled fondant)
Equipment
20cm (8in) round baking tin, at least 7.5cm (3in) deep
Skewer
1 Follow the steps for the Carrot Cake replacing the carrot with grated apple and using a combination of wholemeal flour, self-raising flour, baking powder and ground almonds. Apples contain much more water than carrot so the ground almonds are needed to hold the structure.
2 When making the cream cheese frosting use a golden icing sugar if possible for a subtle toffee taste.
3 To make the rosy red apple decorations divide the red sugarpaste into 10 equal pieces, then roll each into a ball in the palm of your hand. Poke a hole in the top of each ‘apple’ using a skewer.
4 To make the stalks roll small, thin stems in the palm of your hand with your fingertip and insert the end of each into one of the apples. The leaves are small balls of green sugarpaste, flattened with your fingertip and lightly pinched at one end between your thumb and forefinger. Lightly imprint the centre vein of the leaf with a sharp knife and position next to the stalk.
Rhubarb & Custard Bombe
How about a Cake Bombe for a grand show-off dessert? The cake lesson here is a Joconde sponge, a super flexible sheet that can be shaped and moulded all sorts of ways. Here it’s filled with my favourite combination of rhubarb and custard, but I’m sure you can come up with all sorts of flavours for the filling!
Makes one bombe cake
Prep: 1 hour, plus chilling at least 4 hours, ideally overnight
Bake: 8–10 minutes
Oven: 210°c (fan)/230°c/450°F/Gas Mark 8
Ingredients
Vanilla Cream
300ml (10fl oz) double (heavy) cream
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
30g (1oz) icing (confectioners) sugar
Rhubarb Filling
300g (10
1
⁄
2
oz) rhubarb
50g (1
3
⁄
4
oz) caster (superfine) sugar
50ml (2fl oz) water
1 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)
Custard
100ml (3
1
⁄
2
fl oz) milk
100ml (3
1
⁄
2
fl oz) double (heavy) cream
1 tsp vanilla bean paste or the seeds scraped from 1 vanilla pod
3 egg yolks, large
45g (1
1
⁄
2
oz) caster (superfine) sugar
1 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)
Cake
5 whole eggs, large
185g (6
1
⁄
2
oz) ground almonds
185g (6
1
⁄
2
oz) icing (confectioners) sugar, sifted
40g (1
1
⁄
2
oz) butter, melted and cooled
50g (1
3
⁄
4
oz) plain (all-purpose) flour, sifted
5 egg whites
25g (1oz) caster (superfine) sugar
To Decorate
Mini white chocolate cigarillos
White and pink chocolate curls
Equipment
Electric stand or hand mixer
Two 30 × 35cm (12 × 14in) baking trays 1cm (
1
⁄
2
in) deep
Baking (parchment) paper
Small, medium and large pans
Cling film (plastic wrap)
1 litre (20fl oz) Pyrex glass bowl
15cm (6in) pastry cutter
1 First make the vanilla cream. Place the double cream, icing sugar and vanilla bean paste into a large bowl and whisk until the mixture forms soft peaks. The consistency should be soft but not runny. Cover the vanilla cream with cling film and store in the fridge until later.
2 Next make the rhubarb filling. In a small bowl or cup mix together the water and cornflour. Cut the trimmed rhubarb stalks into 1.5cm (
1
⁄
2
in) chunks and place into a medium pan with the caster sugar. Heat the rhubarb gently, stirring occasionally until the sugar dissolves and the rhubarb is softened, only just still holding together. Pour in the water and cornflour and continue to heat until the mixture comes to the boil and thickens. Remove from the heat and transfer to a clean bowl. Cover with cling film, easing it down the sides of the bowl so it is in contact with the rhubarb filling and allow to cool to room temperature.
3 For the custard, measure the milk and cream into a large pan, add the vanilla bean paste and whisk to combine. Place the egg yolks into a large jug and add the caster sugar and cornflour. Whisk it up straight away until even.
4 Now heat the milk/cream in the pan until it’s just below boiling point. Take it off the heat and pour it over the egg yolks in the jug a little at a time whilst whisking continuously. This stops the egg from scrambling and ruining your custard. Once all the milk/cream has been added pour the whole lot back into the pan.
5 Heat it over a gentle heat whilst whisking the whole time. The mixture on the base of the pan will cook faster and thicken so keep whisking – this will stop it getting lumpy. Heat whilst whisking (I think you’ve got the gist now!) until the custard is nice and thick. Take it off the heat and transfer it to a clean bowl and contact cover with cling film.
